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THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2015
High-tech for high flyers ELLIS BIRD FARM ADDS ANOTHER LAYER OF TECHNOLOGY TO ITS PURPLE MARTIN RESEARCH BY CRYSTAL RHYNO ADVOCATE STAFF New technology to track the comings and goings of the beloved purple martin is once again being put to the test at Ellis Bird Farm. Researchers installed 11 radio frequency identification devices (RFID) at the opening of the bird houses at the site east of Blackfalds in May and June. The date and time is recorded every time a bird with a geolocator enters the compartment hole. Alisha Ritchie, a graduate student who is working on the Ellis Bird Farm purple martin project under researcher Kevin Fraser, said this will be the first time the units will be used to track data from birds. The units will determine the activity levels of the males and females and the effects of weather on the feeding rates. Ritchie said past research indicates that the birds generally reduce their activity levels when it is hot or rainy. So far, the data from one bird house has been analyzed where two birds returned with a geolocator. “For the nesting activity, the female was doing most of the work,” said Ritchie. “Whereas the male wasn’t doing as much. From previous years, we know when they are feeding. Both the male and female feed quite regularly. That was quite interesting that there was a difference between making the nest and feeding.” Myra Pearlman, biologist and site services manager at Ellis Bird Farm, said the data from the first journey of a bird named Amelia was incredible and touched so many people. “The potential of the RFID technology is staggering,” she said. “What I am excited about is that we are pioneering the information here and it will soon be used all over the world. We have been able to pioneer geolocators at this northern end of the range. (We are) a little small site in Central Alberta that is doing amazing work.” Over the last three years, adult purple martins were outfitted with the geolocators or tracking devices. Researchers have tracked where the birds spend their winters — typically Brazil or Bolivia — and their stopover sites such as Texas. The rate of returning birds has continued to climb. In 2012, 23 birds were deployed with six returning in 2013. Last year, 10 purple martins were banded with GPS devices, which have a shorter battery life but determines a more accurate location. In total, 17 purple martins out of the 53 banded birds returned this year, making it the highest return and percentage rate in the four years of the project. One GPS bird returned out of the 10 deployed. The efforts will help researchers determine where to spend conservation efforts on the declining bird species. Ritchie said this year 52 young birds, or hatch year birds, will be outfitted with a geolocator device. “They will be a little harder to see,” said Ritchie. “They are smaller and dark coloured. They match the colour of the bird. This is the first time anyone has ever put geolocators on hatch year songbirds.” Twenty-five adult birds will be banded with geolocators starting on Tuesday. “We hope we will continue to get more back,” said Ritchie. “It is looking
Photos by CRYSTAL RHYNO/Advocate staff
TOP: Purple martins at the Ellis Bird Farm on Wednesday. Over the last few years, the bird farm has ramped up its research on the species, whose numbers have been dwindling. RIGHT: Alisha Ritchie is a grad student working on the geolocator project, which tracks purple martins at the bird farm and far beyond. FAR RIGHT: The purple martin, seen here taking flight from a stand at the farm, is the largest swallow in North America. pretty promising that we got so many in those boxes. We do suspect as long as nothing harms their migration or reduces their numbers we should get more back.” Ritchie said this research is important because the numbers of purple martin, the largest swallow in North America, are declining at a rapid pace. “We are using these as a model species to research what are hurting their numbers so much and help that,” she said. “Even though at Ellis Bird Farm
we are continuing to get more birds back, it doesn’t mean the species as a whole are doing well. That’s why we are doing this research.”
Find out more about the purple martin or Ellis Bird Farm at www.ellisbirdfarm.ca. crhyno@reddeeradvocate.com
Overdose reversal medication offered BY SUSAN ZIELINSKI ADVOCATE STAFF Kits with the medication Naloxone to reverse opiate overdoses are now available in Red Deer. Central Alberta AIDS Network Society has already trained and distributed kits to two harm reduction clients since kits became available on Tuesday. The Overdose Prevention Program with take-home Naloxone kits is a oneyear, $300,000 pilot project funded by Alberta Health in response to the rise in fentanyl overdoses. CAANS is among seven agencies across Alberta involved in the program. CAANS is working with Red Deer Primary Care Network’s Street Clinic on the program. But CAANS is the one to distribute the kits containing the drug that temporarily stops the effects of opiates — like morphine, heroin, fentanyl and oxycodone — to keep people breathing until paramedics arrive. “If you have an overdose, you need to go the hospital to be checked out. All it does is stop it from hitting your brain.
“It’s not clearing it from your system. It’s just giving you that extra time to get to the hospital,” said Jennifer Vanderschaeghe, CAANS executive director, on Wednesday. She said it’s possible for a person to lapse into an overdose again once Naloxone wears off. “We really, really want people to call 911.” Naloxone is injected intramuscularly and a kit contains a rescue breathing mask to try to revive someone who isn’t breathing due to an overdose, two doses of the medication and two needles (because sometimes people require two injections), latex gloves and two swabs. The injection can be given through clothes into a thigh or upper arm if necessary. Other than being an opiate antagonist, Naloxone has no affect on people. The Streetworks program in Edmonton has made Naloxone available to clients for 10 years. It was the first in Canada to offer the program. Vanderschaeghe said while only about 20 per cent of kits distributed in Edmonton are used annually, getting to train clients to use Naloxone and talking to them about overdoses is an opportunity to get to know and help
Photo by JEFF STOKOE/Advocate staff
Sarah Fleck a registered nurse working with the Turning Point in Red Deer holds up a dose of Naloxone, the drug found in a drug overdose kit being distributed to drug users in Red Deer. The kit will counteract an overdose from opioids such as fentanyl, morphine, codeine and oxycontin. them. CAANS has about 400 harm reduction clients. “The more conversations we have about overdoses, the impact on people
Carolyn Martindale, City Editor, 403-314-4326 Fax 403-341-6560 E-mail editorial@reddeeradvocate.com
and how to respond to it in a good way, would help not only the people who use opiates, but all the professionals that respond.” szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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